Chicago White Sox reading material

[buzzsaw]

CHICAGO -- By the time he arrived at U.S. Cellular Field on Monday, there were about 40 e-mails in his [email protected] account.

"All bad ones," said Guillen. "Maybe three say, 'Hang in there. ... You're OK. ... You're the best.'"

The others?

Paul Konerko can't believe his eyes after popping out to seal Monday's 7-5 loss to the incredible Indians.

"'You suck. ... It's your fault. ... I know you're gonna choke,'" he said.

This is what happens when you divulge your e-mail address to a national magazine and then watch in disbelief as your team becomes the centerpiece of a September vulture convention. The latest Chicago White Sox face plant: a 7-5 loss to the Cleveland Indians, who scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the eighth inning and now trail Guillen's team by only 2½ games.

As recently as Aug. 1 the White Sox were so far ahead of everyone else in the AL Central that you needed Mapquest to find them. They owned the best record in baseball, were 15 games ahead of the second-place Indians and seemingly had nothing to worry about other than perfecting their champagne-spraying technique.

Since then they've had a posture problem, slumping at the exact moment the Indians became the '27 Yankees. Cleveland began shaving away the White Sox lead as if it were peach fuzz. Fifteen games became 12 by mid-August, then seven by late August, then five in mid-September, then a scant 3½ games entering Monday evening's series opener. So thick was the angst here you could cut it with a grilled bratwurst.

The White Sox are going to make the playoffs, but just barely, and only because they were good enough to lap the field nearly eight weeks ago. Now they aren't so good or, more precisely, aren't as good.

“ I kept telling them, '[The Twins are] not the team you should be worried about.' I told them, 'Worry about the Cleveland Indians and what they have over there.' ”

— White Sox GM Ken Williams

"Some people treat my team like we're a piece of dump," said Guillen.

This is totally unfair ... and totally predictable. What did Guillen expect, a group hug? This is the same guy who, in typical Ozzie honesty, said of his team five days ago, "We flat-out stink."

Remember, this city is one of the founding fathers of baseball Heimlichs. Gagging noises have been heard from here, especially on the Wrigley Field side of town, for decades upon decades. Chicago children learn three dates: Columbus discovered America in 1492, the Cubs last won a World Series in 1908, the White Sox last won one in 1917. Since then, desolation, despair, drought.

Guillen wants his team -- and its 90 victories -- to be treated with respect. After all, he said, only the St. Louis Cardinals have a better record than his White Sox. Problem is, the Cards have already clinched the NL Central and are busy picking out clothes for their postseason trip. Meanwhile, the Sox are applying another coat of Sure to their armpits.

"No, no, no," said Guillen. "I never, ever say we were going to win this thing easy."

No surprise there. The White Sox are the kind of team you love to watch, even root for, but you do so at your own risk. They play better on the road than at home. They've been in 49 one-run games. Their 34-save reliever (and his bad back) has been replaced by a rookie who made his big-league debut 2½ months ago.

Meanwhile, the Indians are 34-11 since July 31.

As the season unfolded and it became apparent that AL Central rival Minnesota had issues of its own, assorted Sox front office personnel were thrilled with the Twins' struggles. But Sox general manager Ken Williams knew better.

"I kept telling them, 'That's not the team you should be worried about,'" said Williams. "I told them, 'Worry about the Cleveland Indians and what they have over there.'"

Those front office types are worried now, though the White Sox themselves are on a strict diet of amnesia pills. Collapses? What collapses?

"Nobody in here thinks about that stuff," said Sox center fielder Aaron Rowand. "That's you guys."

Guilty. But talk of possibly one of the greatest collapses in baseball history wasn't limited to a packed U.S. Cellular press box. A crowd of 35,748, understandably nervous about the standings, directed their first boos of the game at Sox starter Freddy Garcia in the second inning. Then they did the same in the fifth, when Cleveland's lead grew to 4-0. Actual cheers arrived in the bottom of the fifth, when Chicago scored four of its own.

Williams himself said it has been a Tums type of season. Given the choice between a 14-game lead and a character-building stretch run, Williams would take something in the double-digit variety. And don't even mention a postseason without the White Sox.

"Oh, lord, you don't want to be around me if that happens," he said.

Guillen will accept all blame -- "100 percent," he said -- if the White Sox somehow are playoff no-shows on Oct. 3. Not that he'll have any choice. If the White Sox finish behind the Indians in the Central and fill-in-the-blank (the New York Yankees? Oakland Athletics? Boston Red Sox?) in the wild card, Guillen's team can pose in a team photo with the '69 Cubs and the '78 Red Sox (no need to involve the '64 Philadelphia Phillies gag-a-thon just yet). Some legacy.

"I'll be concerned when we're one game behind," Guillen said.

That day might arrive soon. The White Sox clutch that 2½-game lead with 13 games remaining, five against these same Indians. It was so quiet after Monday night's loss you could hear the Sox's Central lead drop.

"Hang in there with us," said Williams, speaking more to the fans than the media. "Give us a little bit of your support and please, stay off the ledges."

Easy for him to say.

[buzzsaw]

Garcia, with one win in his last nine starts, lasted 6 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and four runs.

[buzzsaw]

The Indians trailed the White Sox by 15 games after Chicago swept a four-game series at Jacobs Field from July 14-17 and were still 14 behind in early August.

But they've played their best while the White Sox have lost eight of 11 in what is turning into a colossal collapse.

"We all know it's there," Jenks said of the shrinking lead.

[buzzsaw]

CHICAGO -- This can't be happening. Can it?

A 15-game lead, melting like the polar ice caps?

A magical season, turning messier than a mudslide?

This can't be happening. But it is. It's happening to those Chicago White Sox. Right before our eyes.

Seven weeks ago, the White Sox were 34 games over .500 -- and the Cleveland Indians were four over. Four.

So everybody who figured they'd be waking up on the morning of Sept. 20, finding those same two teams suddenly separated by 2½ games, raise your hands. We'd like to come hang out with you on your next trip to the Powerball machine.

But that's where these White Sox and these Indians stand right now -- 2½ games apart. With nearly two weeks of this season left to be played. With five more games left against each other. Amazing.

That gap shrunk by yet another game Monday night, from 3½ down to 2½, on a pulsating pennant-race evening on the South Side of Chicago, when these two teams finally met for the first time since July.

It shrunk on the second-biggest hit in the life of the legendary Aaron Bleeping Boone -- a two-run, eighth-inning, game-winning single off a man throwing 99 miles an hour (White Sox smokeballer Bobby Jenks).

It shrunk when a spectacular, roller coaster of a game ended Indians 7, White Sox 5.

But most of all, it shrunk in a way that made you wonder: Could it possibly shrink any more?

"You know what?" Boone would say later. "I know no one believes me. But we don't really care. We just want to keep playing the way we've been playing."

OK, we know he really, truly means that -- but let's rephrase that remark for him:

The Indians, as a point of philosophy, don't particularly want to care about those standings. But they're at a point now where they're not allowed to forget them -- because those of us who do care are rude enough to bring them up every 12 seconds.

Whether the Indians want to know this or not, they are now within reach of doing something not just historic but borderline impossible. Wiping out a 15-game lead with two months to play? What are the odds of that?

Well, we'll frame it for you in a way that will make those odds realllll clear:

• Only one team in the history of baseball -- the 1914 "Miracle" Braves -- was ever 15 games out at any point of any season and came back to finish first. But that team fell 15 back in the first week of July, not the first week of August.

• The biggest Aug. 1 lead any team in history has ever blown, on the other hand, is 11 games -- by the 1995 Angels. But these Indians already have made up more games than that in just a month and a half.

• The White Sox, meanwhile, started out their season by going 62-29 in their first 91 games. Only two teams in history ever roared out to a start that good, were in undisputed possession of first place after those 91 games and didn't finish first -- the 1978 Red Sox (up 8½) and the 1942 Dodgers (up 6½).

• But no team that started 62-29 or better ever finished its season by playing sub-.500 baseball for the rest of the season. The White Sox, we regret to report, are 28-30 since then.

So by playing the way they've been playing, the White Sox opened the door for these Indians to do something that wasn't even on their radar screens seven weeks ago -- win a division that seemed like it had already been clinched. On about Memorial Day.

"I don't think we ever really thought about the White Sox," said Monday's starting pitcher for Cleveland, Kevin Millwood. "We were just thinking about the wild card. Now we find ourselves in a situation where it's possible. But I don't think we're too concerned about that. We just want to get in the playoffs, one way or the other."

But trying to figure out which way they might get in -- now that's the part that makes their heads hurt.

They're behind (in the division) -- but they're also ahead (in the wild-card race).

They're the chaser (of the White Sox) -- but they're also the chase-ee (by the Yankees).

They're running two races at the same time here. And that's a sure prescription for vertigo. Heck, no wonder they don't want to look at those standings.

"It's confusing," Millwood said. "You watch the guys in front of you -- but you're also watching the guys behind you. You get here, and you keep forgetting you're actually out front (by a game and a half) in one of these situations. It's definitely a weird situation to be in."

But if it feels weird to them, just try to put yourself in the shoes of those White Sox. They've led the AL Central for every day of this season. They were 22 games over .500 before Cleveland had even spent one day over .500. And now people are telling the White Sox at least they have the wild card to fall back on.

Needless to say, that's not quite what these guys had in mind.

Asked if he was "concerned" to find that once-Kilimanjaro-esque lead of his down to 2½ games, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen lurched into a broken-glass-half-full mode Monday night.

"I'll be concerned," Guillen said, "when we're one game behind."

But if he ever does find himself one game behind, we're betting "concerned" won't be the first word out of his mouth. Actually, we're betting you won't be able to print the first word out of his mouth.

Realistically, the White Sox don't have a whole lot to worry about. If they even win just two of the five games they have left with Cleveland, it would mean the Indians can't catch them without help. And there won't be much time left to get that help.

But on Monday night at U.S. Cellular Field, it sure didn't feel like the drama of this matchup was overrated.

Not when the Indians lurched in front, 4-0, after 4½ innings.

Not when the White Sox answered with four spine-tingling runs in the bottom of the fifth.

Not when Carl Everett put the Sox ahead with an electric seventh-inning homer off Rafael Betancourt -- a bolt that sent fireworks hurtling through the September skies and seemed to make their seven-week tumble seem like just another bad dream.

But then, nearly 23 months after his unforgettable Game 7 home run off Tim Wakefield, Boone would rise up one more time. Fighting off two straight 99-mph whooshers from Jenks with two on in the eighth. Then finding a way to lay off two carnivorous breaking balls. Then stroking one more flameball through the middle for a hit that sucked every ounce of oxygen out of 35,748 spectators who couldn't believe this was happening.

"I'd never faced that guy," Boone said afterward. "All we had on him was that the guy threw really hard, with a big overhand curve. Well, ... both were true."

But so was the wave of his bat in one of the biggest moments of his career. And when Travis Hafner knocked in an insurance run in the ninth, and Bob Wickman huffed and puffed and retired Paul Konerko with the tying runs on base to end it -- it was official:

The AL Central is now legitimately available for the winning.

Those of us who look for the big picture know just how historic a feat we might be witnessing here. But the men who now have that history within their reach have a hard time running that part of this through their brains right now.

"I don't allow myself to think about that," Boone said, "because for us, it's just about taking every day as it comes and staying in the moment. You can't make up a four-game lead or an eight-game lead in one night. You can't win next week's games tonight. So that's what this game's really about -- just staying in the moment."

He plays on a team that is now 41-17 since the last time these two clubs met. On a team that has won six in a row, 13 of 14 and 33 of its last 44. But when he was asked if there is such a thing as momentum, Boone replied: "I don't think so."

"I always hear that word," he said. "But I don't think so. I used to always hear that word in New York -- with New York-Boston. But that series is a perfect example of why momentum is such an overused word. They beat your brains in, 16-0, and you hear about momentum. Then the next day, it's 4-0 the other way. So momentum is there one minute. And then it gets squashed by one big play the other way."

But whatever it is these Indians have going, it is beginning to look as unstoppable as an avalanche. A "roll" is the term Aaron Boone decided to hang on it Monday night.

"Sometimes," he said, "you just get on a roll as a team."

Wait a second, we protested. What the heck is the difference between momentum, we asked, and a roll?

"Aw, I don't know," said Aaron Boone. "I just play."

So feel free to attach whatever word you want to describe what it is that's going on here. That's our job. The Cleveland Indians? They just play.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

What a difference a day makes...24 little hours in a day!

Buzzy, one too many cups of coffee yesterday? Wow, 4 posts in a matter of about 6 minutes. Sorry I could not address this sooner but I was at the game, cheering on my boys to another WHITE SOX VICTORY!

I have to ask you, do you get paid by the word up there in Twinkie land? I thought I was the one with the Windy nickname but I will give it up and start calling you THE NORTHWIND! Your buzz has turned into a whine.

In your dissertation, I noticed a few things that I have to address. You stated that the Sox were 34 games over .500 seven weeks ago. They are 32 games over as of today so not much has changed. They have been in 1st place all year and as of today they are still in 1st place, not much has changed. They have had the best record in the American League, they still have the best record in the American League, not much has changed. We can not control what the Cardinals have done as we don't play in their league, though we own a .666 winning percentage against them (National League) this year. We can not control what the Injuns do except when we play them and we are 11-4 against them so far this year (.733 winning percentage).

Every team plays 162 games in a year and the team with the most victories at the end takes their division and goes to the playoffs. Games won in April and May count the same as games in August and September.

Last time I checked, the Cardinals and White Sox were the only two teams at 90 or more wins, they have been the best two teams all year and I don't expect that to change. I look forward to nothing more than doing battle with my buddy, CNY Tim. The "Double-Nickel" series will be one for the ages, maybe a series that you can cover in a novel or series of short stories!

I guess that since your Twinks have tanked the season into the dumper that it leaves a void in your daily routine. Is the fishing that bad up there this time of year that you needed a new hobby, novelist?

Well, Shakespear, sharpen up the ole quill and prepare to write a few more novels in the next few weeks. Except, this time make it non-fiction. Maybe you can write about tonight's game, make it a western where Mr. Garland comes in wearing his white hat and prepares to "Cowboy Up" against The Injuns. Remember, I get 15% on any story you sell for coming up with the story line.

MAGIC NUMBER 9...Going Down in about 8 hours.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES!

[buzzsaw]

Hey, atleast your confident heading into the end of the season and playoffs!

I personally can't see how such a talented team could lose any games.

Heres a banner for you!

[fishyguy]

Quote:

---

What a difference a day makes...24 little hours in a day!

---

Your are right 24 hours does change things. 24 hours ago it was after a White Sox loss and you didn't make a appearance. Now you are all full of bluster after a win.

Quote:

---

Sorry I could not address this sooner but I was at the game, cheering on my boys to another WHITE SOX VICTORY!

---

The game started in the evening and lasted 3 1/2 hours. See above

Quote:

---

In your dissertation, I noticed a few things that I have to address. You stated that the Sox were 34 games over .500 seven weeks ago. They are 32 games over as of today so not much has changed. They have been in 1st place all year and as of today they are still in 1st place, not much has changed. They have had the best record in the American League, they still have the best record in the American League, not much has changed.

---

Actually alot has change. 32 minus 34 = -2. The change is the White Sox are playing under .500 ball. They may have played so far above their heads early it won't matter but I would say it is a change. It used to be the best record in baseball now it is only the AL. Again, a change.

Quote:

---

Every team plays 162 games in a year and the team with the most victories at the end takes their division and goes to the playoffs. Games won in April and May count the same as games in August and September.

---

You are correct but wouldn't be nice to have some momentum going into games 163+ and playing in October. Just a thought as you team continues to flounder in the 2nd half.

Quote:

---

Last time I checked, the Cardinals and White Sox were the only two teams at 90 or more wins, they have been the best two teams all year and I don't expect that to change.

---

Except the fact that every power poll has the Sox at #5 or so.

[genegodawa]

Excellent retort Fishyguy.

[SledNeck]

Looks like Garland put on his white hat and proceeded to get his a$$ handed to him rather than cowboy up. Gawd, it must be hard to watch this train wreck in action. Id rather have my team be out of contention than go down in history for something like this.

Next on the list for the ch-sox (choke-sox) Santana.

[fishyguy]

Quote:

---

Maybe you can write about tonight's game, make it a western where Mr. Garland comes in wearing his white hat and prepares to "Cowboy Up" against The Injuns.

MAGIC NUMBER 9...Going Down in about 8 hours.

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD...YES!

---

OOPS...Wrong again

Maybe you should go into that hiding with Commanche. You may be hexing your team just like he feared.

[buzzsaw]

Fishyguy, you beat me to the punch! Good work!

Heres my western for Windy anywhoooo

Quote:

---

Well, Shakespear, sharpen up the ole quill and prepare to write a few more novels in the next few weeks. Except, this time make it non-fiction. Maybe you can write about tonight's game, make it a western where Mr. Garland comes in wearing his white hat and prepares to "Cowboy Up" against The Injuns. Remember, I get 15% on any story you sell for coming up with the story line.

---

There was a man they called Judy, he had a black and white pony and a sidekicks named Tootie Garcia, Fruity Buehrle & rustin' Dustin Hermonster. Together the tandom hitched a ride straight into the depths of Choke City where all was eventually lost... it started out a simple bet, but in the end all was lost before they got to the choosen city of ALCSville. Alot will be written in the history books about how great these guys were at the start of their journey, but in the end, they were just another group of lonely hee haw's.

[buzzsaw]

Here's the most recent power rankings from CNNSI.

Chicago White Sox

They're a pedestrian 34-30 since the All-Star break, closer Dustin Hermanson and speedster Scott Podsednik are wearing down, and co-aces Mark Buehrle and Jon Garland are a combined 9-10 with a 4.49 ERA since mid-July. Suddenly a 15-game lead is down to 3 1/2. Can you say '69 Cubs?

web page

[genegodawa]

Buzz,

Please don't insult the Cubs like that. I don't hear the word Amazing being used in front of Indians----yet.

[buzzsaw]

Geno, I like your sense of humor!

P.S. I predict that Windy will not surface today or atleast until his team wins or the Tribe losses again. Lets see if this holds true or not. I sure hope not as I'd like to hear him talk about Hafners lucky night against the Sox.

Go Cubbies!

[genegodawa]

Buzz, being a Cub fan, if I don't laugh, I'll cry.

If he thinks Hafner's night was "lucky", what does he think of the whole WSox season?

PS That was a great "western" tale you spun.

[Down to Earth]

Quote:

---

P.S. I predict that Windy will not surface today or atleast until his team wins or the Tribe losses again. Lets see if this holds true or not. I sure hope not as I'd like to hear him talk about Hafners lucky night against the Sox.

---

You are right on Buzzsaw. Kinda funny how only one game is brought up in the Cleveland series. I guess he didn't make it out to the other two games.

[buzzsaw]

Oh I'm sure he will have a great excuse for not visting his friends on FM.

Maybe he drove to Detroit to watch a game with our other buddy and has not made it back yet??? hmmmmm It could happen.

[fishyguy]

Quote:

---

Oh I'm sure he will have a great excuse for not visting his friends on FM.

Maybe he drove to Detroit to watch a game with our other buddy and has not made it back yet??? hmmmmm It could happen.

---

I wonder how are other buddy is doing after his Tigers got swept by KC in a 4 game series. That should be good for another month of hibernation barring any monstrous games by his Lions.

[genegodawa]

And didn't I hear not too long ago that now Pudge wants out of Kittiedom?

[buzzsaw]

CHICAGO -- There's seldom a dull moment with Ozzie Guillen as manager. His latest is this: If he leads the Chicago White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917, he might quit after just two seasons on the job.

“ I want to leave with my head up and do something nobody else did before. ... It would give me a good chance to accomplish everything in my career. ”

— Ozzie Guillen

Guillen says it's not a ploy to take the pressure off his slumping team that has nearly squandered a 15-game lead in AL Central. And he's not considering walking away because of the booing he's getting or job stress -- although he admits to sometimes vomiting after losses.

"A pretty good chance. Because I want to leave with my head up and do something nobody else did before. ... It would give me a good chance to accomplish everything in my career," he said Thursday.

The White Sox's lead had shriveled to 2½ games as they opened up a four-game series against the Twins on Thursday night. Talk of the great collapse is everywhere, in the papers and on the airwaves. Fans are criticizing his strategy and booing his moves.

But Guillen insists he's not looking for a way out.

"A lot of people misunderstand what I'm saying, a lot of people think I'm [talking of] quitting because I got a lot of pressure and got a lot of stress. I got stress and pressure because I want to win," he said.

"I want to win with this organization more than anybody," he said.

But in an earlier interview this week, Guillen said the booing saddens him, especially since the White Sox have 91 wins and because his sons, who are at most games, have to hear it.

That he gets physically ill is surprising, since Guillen doesn't seem to be the ulcer type with an outgoing and outspoken personality, something he flashed for 13 years as a player with the White Sox.

"When we lose a game I sit in my office for another hour. I sit there and try to figure out what we did wrong and what we should do," he said.

"I played here, I got my roots here, I grew up here. ... When we win, I'm the happiest man. When we lose, I get sick," he said.

General manager Kenny Williams said he had not taken reports of Guillen's desire to leave seriously.

Guillen just signed a contract extension in May. The White Sox picked up the 2006 option on his contract, added two more years and included an option for the 2009 season.

"Whatever his explanations are as to what he said, he's got to clean up his own house. I'm concerned about what is happening on the field. All the other stuff I can't be concerned about," Williams said, adding he didn't expect it to have an impact on the team.

"He's going to quit if we win?" first baseman Paul Konerko said. "That's really what managers go for anyway. Once you win the World Series as a manager, you go out with a bang. But first things first. We got to get to the playoffs."

Catcher Chris Widger has seen a change in Guillen over the last month.

"He's not as loose and happy-go-lucky as he was but, hey, that's the way it is. When you're a manager, the team lives and dies on your decision and at the end of the day you have to answer for the way your team plays," Widger said. "As far as him quitting, I hope not, I'd like to come back here next year, but he has to do whatever's best for him, best for his family and best for his health."

Guillen said he's not kidding.

"I said it because I mean it. When I win the World Series here in Chicago, maybe this year, maybe in 10 years, maybe two years, maybe three years, there is nothing better when you quit and go through the big gate, to get out big," he said. "That's what I want to do. That's what I explain to people. I just want to do it here. I only have two years doing this and if I do it this year, it will be a short career."

[buzzsaw]

CHICAGO (AP) -- Their once commanding lead is almost gone, and the Chicago White Sox are showing no signs of shaking a late-season collapse.

"We're just missing pitches. We've got to continue to battle and not put pressure on ourselves," Chicago right fielder Jermaine Dye said after Thursday night's crushing 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins in 11 innings knocked the White Sox's AL Central lead over the Cleveland Indians to 1½ games. The lead is the smallest for the White Sox since before they beat Detroit on May 1.

"We've got to play these games out and see where we're at," Dye said.

The White Sox have lost 10 of 14. The 15-game lead they had on Aug. 1 has all but evaporated. And with 10 games to go, they've got to find a way to get their offense going. On Thursday night, they squandered a bases-loaded threat in the ninth and a first-and-second situation in the 10th.

"We had our chances and I just didn't do my job," said Dye, who flied out with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth.

Matthew LeCroy hit a go-ahead single in the three-run 11th and Jacque Jones followed with a two-run double for the Twins. Cleveland beat the Kansas City Royals 11-6 to inch ever closer.

"It will be interesting to see how we rally around," Chicago rookie Brandon McCarthy said after matching Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana for eight innings. "It's by no means over."

Lew Ford, who didn't start the game for the Twins, got a leadoff double in the 11th when his looping fly fell in front of diving center fielder Aaron Rowand. After Joe Mauer was intentionally walked with one out, LeCroy singled off Bobby Jenks (1-1) to break a 1-1 tie. Jones, who had homered earlier, then drove a two-run double to right-center.

"The season is not over yet. Those guys have to go out there and play the game like they were at the beginning of the season," said Santana, who has been tougher on the White Sox this season than any pitcher.

"That's when you prove how good you are -- at the end of the season," he said. "You have to finish strong and that's when good players and teams show up."

Jesse Crain (11-5), who got out of the first-and-second predicament in the 10th by getting Tadahito Iguchi to hit into a double play, picked up the win. Joe Nathan pitched the 11th for his 39th save.

"We are out there giving everything," said Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire, whose team won the division the last three years but is out of contention.

"We know how important this game is to the Sox and everyone else and no one can accuse us of laying down," he said.

After Santana and McCarthy dueled for eight innings, each allowing one run and four hits, the White Sox loaded the bases with one out in the ninth with two singles and a walk off Juan Rincon. But Rincon retired Dye and Juan Uribe on fly balls to end the threat.

"We had the bases loaded and we should have won the game right there," Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen said. "The hitters got to be better in the stretch. It's not going to be easy."

In his third strong start since being recalled from the minors for a third time Aug. 30, McCarthy took a 1-0 lead with two outs in the seventh when Jones hit his 23rd homer to deep right.

Joe Crede, 2-for-23 in his career against Santana, hit his 20th homer with one out in the sixth as the White Sox took a 1-0 lead and finally broke through against Santana, who had dominated them all season.

"In my mind, it's Santana and he's as close to the best as it comes," McCarthy said. "It's disappointing to lose. ... It's tough to swallow."

Before the homer, Santana had thrown 21 1/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox. The left-hander was 4-0, had an 0.86 ERA and allowed just 20 hits in 31 1/3 innings in his four previous starts against Chicago this season.

Dye's double in the second was Chicago's first hit and Santana's mix of speed and movement kept the White Sox off balance until Crede connected. Crede had a game-winning, 10th-inning homer Tuesday night against Cleveland.

McCarthy, a tangle of arms and legs at 6-foot-7 and 190 pounds, matched Santana for five innings by allowing one hit, a leadoff single to Jason Tyner.

He didn't give up another until Terry Tiffee singled leading off the sixth and then brushed Luis Rivas with a pitch, giving the Twins their first serious threat of the game. But catcher Chris Widger pounced on Tyner's bunt and threw to third for a forceout. Then Crede fielded Jason Bartlett's grounder to third, stepped on the bag and threw to first for the inning-ending double play.

Game notes

The White Sox turned four double plays and center fielder Rowand made a couple of nice running catches. ... McCarthy's eight innings were a career high. ... Slumping Ford (6-for-32 entering the game) didn't start before pinch-hitting in the ninth.

[mnwild]

they have a poll on SI.COM, How will the Indians finish the regular season? 61%- Al Central champs, 26%- Al wild card and 13%- miss the playoff's. Just thought I would throw that out there.

[Down to Earth]

Quote:

---

Joe Crede, 2-for-23 in his career against Santana, hit his 20th homer with one out in the sixth as the White Sox took a 1-0 lead and finally broke through against Santana, who had dominated them all season.

"In my mind, it's Santana and he's as close to the best as it comes," McCarthy said. "It's disappointing to lose. ... It's tough to swallow."

Before the homer, Santana had thrown 21 1/3 scoreless innings against the White Sox. The left-hander was 4-0, had an 0.86 ERA and allowed just 20 hits in 31 1/3 innings in his four previous starts against Chicago this season.

---

Not bad for a pitcher who according to some would only be the 4th best pitcher on the Sox staff. Over the past few seasons Santana has been one of the most dominant second half pitchers. Too bad the Sox don't have one. Can you imagine going into the playoffs(that's if they make it) and having to rookie pitcher being your ace of the staff at the moment? It would take a lot of Balls, but McCarthy would almost have to be the guy you put out there game 1.

[buzzsaw]

DTE, I always like reading your posts! You don't forget much smack talk and always like to remind people of their errant premature statements. You do it in a nice manner as well!! Good job.

P.S. Wheres Waldo, I mean Windy???? Bla ha ha

[fishyguy]

I would have thought Windy would have had time to visit us as he must of got home a little early with the rest of the Sox fans. Did anyone else notice the exodus from the stadium after Jaques' double.

Gives a whole lot of credence to Geno's argument that Cubs fans are better. Can you imagine leaving a stadium early down by only 3 to a team you claim superiority over in the heat of a down to the wire pennant race?

I wonder what he thinks of Roidcon after watching him get out of that bases loaded jam?